Quantifying infarct core volume in ischemic stroke: What is the optimal threshold and parameters of computed tomography perfusion?

OBJECTIVE: Although computed tomography perfusion (CTP) is used to select and guide decision-making processes in patients with acute ischemic stroke, there is no clear standardization of the optimal threshold to predict ischemic core volume accurately. The infarct core volume with a relative cerebral blood flow(rCBF) threshold of < 30% is commonly used. We aimed to assess the volumetric agreement of the infarct core volume with different CTP parameters and thresholds using CTP software (RAPID, VITREA) and the infarct volume on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), with a short interval time (within 60 min) between CTP and follow-up DWI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 42 acute ischemic stroke patients with occlusion of the large artery in the anterior circulation between April 2017-November 2020. RAPID identified infarct core as tissue rCBF < 20-38%. VITREA defined the infarct core as cerebral blood volume (CBV) < 26-56%. Olea Sphere was used to measure infarct core volume on DWI. The CTP-infarct core volume with different thresholds of perfusion parameters (CBF threshold vs CBV threshold) were compared with DWI-infarct core volumes.

RESULTS: The median time between CTP and DWI was 37.5min. The commonly used threshold of CBV< 41% (4.3 mL) resulted in lower median infarct core volume difference compared to the commonly used thresholds of rCBF < 30% (8.2mL). On the other hand, the optimal thresholds of CBV < 26% (-1.0mL; 95% CI, -53.9 to 58.1 mL; 0.945) resulted in the lowest median infarct core volume difference, narrowest limits of agreement, and largest interclass correlation coefficient compared with the optimal thresholds of rCBF < 38% (4.9 mL; 95% CI, -36.4 to 62.9 mL; 0.939).

CONCLUSION: Our study found that the both optimal and commonly used thresholds of CBV provided a more accurate prediction of the infarct core volume in patients with AIS than rCBF.